


Whiskey and Rosewater

by AliuIce0814



Category: The Avengers (2012)
Genre: AUish just because, Gen, angst angst angst, bruce needs new parents, mishmash of canons, pepper is not bruce's mom, science bros are the best bros, someone needs to take the computer away from me, tony smells like whiskey, writing at 3 am
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-10
Updated: 2012-11-10
Packaged: 2017-11-18 08:45:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 714
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/559065
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AliuIce0814/pseuds/AliuIce0814
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He’d wondered why Tony had seemed so familiar before, even the first time he’d met him. Now he realizes it’s because of Tony’s smell.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Whiskey and Rosewater

**Author's Note:**

> Written at 3 AM. You have been warned. This is based on canon in the vaguest sense.

The first time Bruce encounters Tony Stark and Pepper Potts at the same time, he freezes, his tongue stuck to the roof of his mouth. When Ms. Potts asks him friendly questions, eyes curious, he answers monosyllabically if he speaks at all. Tony watches him with the gaze of a scientist trying to work out a problem. Bruce clenches one hand into a fist behind his back. Tony wanted to show him off, of that he’s certain, and now he’s ruined it completely.

He can’t help it, though. As soon as Tony and Ms. Potts come into Bruce’s new laboratory, the smell hits him. He’d wondered why Tony had seemed so familiar before, even the first time he’d met him. Now he realizes it’s because of Tony’s smell. Whiskey, Tony smells like whiskey, and Ms. Potts smells like rosewater. Whiskey and rosewater.

Just like Dad and Mom.

Once Tony leaves, ushered out by his girlfriend, who bickers with him over contracts as they climb the stairs, Bruce collapses onto the nearest lab stool. His hands shake. He’s surprised they aren’t tinged green. He’s sure his eyes are by now. Of course they are. The Hulk—the Other Guy isn’t solely an invention of gamma. He was there before, too, in the dark recesses of Bruce’s mind. He hid in the closet with Bruce when a bottle hit Mom hard enough to make her bleed. He howled to be released when Dad found Bruce and dragged him out by his shirtfront. The Other Guy is real now, not just a figure in Bruce’s mind. He’s well-attuned to Bruce’s fears. He thinks Bruce needs protecting.

It’s not just the whiskey that does it. It’s the rosewater, too.

The smell of alcohol is such an integral part of Tony Stark that Bruce didn’t notice it at first. His mind didn’t immediately realize the connotations of the vaguely sweet smell that always clings to Tony’s clothes. Tony’s mind is so sharp, his calculations so precise, his wit quick—he’s cruel when he wants to be, but it’s usually a joke, and he trusts Bruce in a way that no one else does. He doesn’t yell at Bruce, not even in the thirty-second hour of an experiment, and he has never raised a hand to him, not even as a joke. All pointy things aside, Tony Stark is careful with Bruce.  


He’s nothing like Dad.

Pepper’s nothing like Mom, either. Mom would have laughed at her heels and called them impractical. Mom would have chided Tony for his messes but cleaned up after him anyway. Mom was quieter, gentler, with a cooler temper. At least that’s how Bruce remembers her. Maybe his mind has turned her into a saint, postmortem. She’s a fable more than a fact, now, just a ghost of a memory. She’s soft hands petting his hair, a kiss on his forehead, a flinch when the front door opened. She’s blood on the kitchen floor. 

She’s the smell of rosewater to cover up tears.

The Other Guy wants to fight. Bruce needs to run. The two instincts battle each other as Bruce sits, motionless, inside his magnificent lab. One of his experiments runs overtime, but Bruce can’t move without changing, transforming, and he cannot afford to break this place. It’s worth money, and it’s worth trust. Tony comes in soon enough anyway, alerted by JARVIS, and cleans everything up. Whatever joking, prodding thing he says to Bruce goes right over Bruce’s head. He finally resorts to jabbing Bruce in the side. The Other Guy knows enough by now to realize that this is Tony teasing, nothing more.

He grumbles, then releases his hold on Bruce.

When Tony asks Bruce what’s going on, Bruce tells him nothing. He pushes past the smell of whiskey to the scent of chemicals and motor oil. He glances up at Tony before looking away, out over all of the wonderful things Tony provides. Not charity: friendship, supposedly. A gesture. A chance to be someone’s equal for a change.

Bruce looks away, and in his mind he pushes away whiskey and rosewater, too. He leaves them with the Other Guy for a day when they’ll need the rage. He tells Tony nothing, and then he asks if they can get to work.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm tired. Just wrote this, didn't edit. Whoops. Concrit is totally allowed.


End file.
